Thursday, November 1, 2007

Is ACup about Gaining Immortality? AC90 Rule is born...

While much has changed in the world's oldest and most prestigious sailing event, the game really is still the same. What does it take to win the modern America's Cup? Coutts, who knows better than anyone, says it's still all about masts, sails, hulls, keels, rudders, trim tabs, rigging, ballast bulbs, practice, time in the boat and those last-minute secret upgrades that the very best teams keep under their hats until it's too late for their foes to react. So it was and so it will be. It's a technology game, played on a tilted field where the rich have a built-in edge, where the commitment is immense and the rewards are laughably ephemeral: You get your name, inscribed on a silver mug that sits in a glass case somewhere gathering dust. In two words: Gaining Immortality.

31 Oct 07: AC Management, as scheduled, published the AC90 Rule marking an exciting milestone in the path to the 33rd America’s Cup. This rule has been crafted over the past six weeks through a design consultation process with all entered challengers, the Defender, and headed by Tom Schnackenberg as the class rule and competition regulations consultant for ACM. Designers from all six entered teams have met regularly since the design process began on 15 September. The AC90 Rule, in brief, will be 90ft overall maximum length, 6.5m in draft whilst racing and will have a displacement of 23tons. We now have to wait and see whether this will be sufficient for GGYC and BMW Oracle to drop it’s court action and let the existing challengers, as well as those waiting in the wings, reach a position where they are able to present potential sponsors with a concrete proposal. The full AC90 Rule can be downloaded in its entirety at: http://www.americascup.com/multimedia/docs/2007/10/071031-ac90_rule_final.pdf